New bow for an old friend

[cylyntbowyer]

Making a new bow for my friend Jim Cowles aka "toothless" ...gonna be 68" hill style model that I call "Nottahill" because it is not a hill !

jim wanted a straight limb bow around 50-55lbs, black glass, action boo cores and a walnut riser.

First things first, I had to make a stright limb form because the one I had been using was for string follow bows. After doing the math and drawing up templates for the riser design I got it done.

I resawed the materials and ground out all the lams and the tapers and got the glass ordered...cut out the riser and ground the fades to paper thin. I had everything set up and ready to be glued then all of this cold spell hit...not supposed to glue up in the cold and my shop doesn't have adequate heat. Several weeks pass and I finally get the time to glue up the bow and the shop was warm enough...after two dry runs to ensure everything will go smooth and everything needed was there, I committed.

30-45 minutes later everything glued...I put the bow form in the bow oven and set the timer to five hours at 170-180 degrees.

Once everything was golden brown, I shut off the oven and let it slowly cool overnight...no need to rush and make a mistake.

Once i wrestle the bow from the the form and grind all of the glue boogers from the bow blank it's pretty quick from there, all of the glue line are inspected and passed with flying colors.

I measured and drew out the lines for the limbs and riser, then remeasured 2-3 more times to be sure everything is true Then I put her to the grinder!  1 hour later it was time to cut some string nocks and work on the tiller. When strung it was at dead tiller...perfect for shooting 3 fingers under but "toothless one" is a true split finget shooter therefore I need to get the top limb to be at least 1/8th positive....done.

Tip overlays and riser overlays are walnut/black micarta/walnut long feathered...looking good, gonna be hard to hand this one over to the old coot!!

Final sanding on the limbs and custom fitting the handle to jims tender hands is all that is needed, he and John Nail are supposed to come over to the shop Saturday and we gonna get it done! I'll try to post some pics of the process from start to finish if I can!!    

 
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[cylyntbowyer]

How do I post the pics?!! Help!!       http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab346/whiskeycreekarchery/1c1c1a26b5e23f25c56fe241610a9341_zpsaa53d844.jpg[/IMG]]photobucket.com

[Roy from Pa]

To post pictures from photobucket, open photobucket in another window and then open your library. When you place your mouse cursor over the picture you want to add here on trad gang, a little gear icon will appear in the upper right hand corner of the picture. Move your mouse onto that gear and a drop down menu will appear, then move the mouse cursor down to where it says get links and click that. Then another menu will appear, you want to click the very bottom link that says IMG codes. When you click on image code line, the word copied should appear briefly. Keep photobucket open but come back to trad gang and in the box where you type your message, right click then click paste. Simple:)

[cylyntbowyer]

[cylyntbowyer]

[cylyntbowyer]

Thanks Roy! I appreciate it.

[cylyntbowyer]

[jsweka]

Awesome!  I love how well you feathered those tip overlays.  Can't wait to see it all finished.

[cylyntbowyer]

Thanks john. I appreciate the complement. I had to got out to clean up my disaster area that I call a bow shop...not every day that I get guests, especially two old timers that were shooting longbows way back when...the guy I'm making the bow for is still shooting his Schultz "Hill" that h bought new in the 60's. Gonna be hard to compete with that. They are some true longbowmen!

[Roy from Pa]

Bow looks nice, Charles.

[Trapper Rob]

That is going to be a nice looking bow.

[cylyntbowyer]

Well, this is how he wanted his grip, I'm a straight grip kinda fella, but hey it's his bow!

 

[DeerBacon]

Very cool!Nice penmanship too.